Broken People in a Broken World

The idea that we humans are a broken people is familiar to Christians - whether under the term "original sin" or "total depravity". It's not something we love to contemplate - some non-believers revile or condemn Christianity for this teaching - but it's a reality we need to acknowledge in order to grasp the reality of who we are and of what people in this world truly are at heart. Monsters like Mao, Stalin and Hitler were extremes, not aberrations!

Less familiar is the truth that this world is also broken. After each creative act, God pronounced what He had just created “good”. Not just nice or pretty, but "good" ... not just from a human perspective, but good in the eyes of the almighty, righteous, God. When Adam sinned, it affected more than just him, it affected (maybe I should say "infected"!) all of his descendants. I already mentioned that. But at that time, God pointed out something more. He said that because of Adam, the ground, the Earth, was cursed. Jumping into the New Testament, this cursed state may be what Paul refers to when he speaks of all creation "groaning":

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Romans 8:20-22, ESV

So we aren't just broken people living with other broken people - tough enough! We also are broken people living among broken people in a broken world!

So ... does that mean we're in a mess and should just throw up our hands in hopelessness and surrender? That isn't at all what Jesus told His followers to do! Jesus commanded us to take the message of redemption - words and action wherever we go. And to teach others to continue in that commission. We can be Jesus hands and feet and mouths in bringing redemption to whosoever will believe.